


Tales from the Prydwen I

by grislupis



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Comedy, Creepy stories that haunted you when you were a child, F/M, Fun light hearted stories that can be silly, Healing, Massage, Mystery, Serious Brotherhood of Steel Lore, Sexual Content, Smut, Superstitions, Technology, Telepathy, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-20 00:32:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5986291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grislupis/pseuds/grislupis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elder Maxson has reinstated Paladin Danse as a Sentinel, and our sole survivor is now also a high ranking Sentinel herself.  Together they act as his body guards and personal errand runners. Strange things are happening in the Wasteland, these are some of those tales, or war stories if you like to call them that. Creepy happenings on missions and hidden secrets, what will our team find out there?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Professionalism at it's best

**Author's Note:**

> The events on these short stories are a continuation of the story "A Stoic Veneer". It is recommended that you read it first to understand some of the complex story line and situations depicted here. So enjoy, these stories are shorts and each one is a small story within itself. Please leave comments and kudos, so I know if you folks are enjoying them. Thanks and have a great time reading!!  
> This story takes place the day after the last chapter of "A Stoic Veneer".

Today was starting off as a pleasant experience as always. Danse was getting ready to take Shaun to the Prydwen for his testing phase, to determine if he were to be a Knight or a Scribe. I was to accompany Elder Arthur Maxson as his personal bodyguard for the day and Sanctuary Hills never looked better in the morning sun through my front windows.  
I sipped on a cup of tea that Codsworth made me while Arthur sat at the kitchen table with Danse discussing the testing sequences over coffee. We all sported the typical black Brotherhood of Steel officer uniforms and were in the outward appearances of being straight-laced, high and tight officers. Looking at us now no one would have ever suspected us of laying together over and over again. We liked it that way. Here in Sanctuary Hills, I controlled this place, and I provided these inhabitants with everything they could ever want or need in exchange for their loyalty and silence. What we did here behind closed doors after the fall of the night was our business alone, no one else's.  
Our armors stood in their racks awaiting our return to them. I was the only one of the Brotherhood that dared to wear that black X-01 advanced power armor that I had acquired from the Enclave. For some reason I couldn't let it go, I felt like it was an extension of myself somehow. It was far more advanced than what the Brotherhood had, and everyone knew it was me when they saw it. It was intimidating and much larger than the T-60 power armor. As Maxson's "Left Hand" I felt it was only fitting that I used it to defend him.  
Danse was taking Shaun out today for his first test, and he was very proud of his adopted son. Arthur was briefing Danse on how the op would go down and what to evaluate Shaun for during the mission. I listened to the conversion as I watched everyone outside going about their morning chores. Every person here was issued power armor and had a rack at every home. I made sure of that personally, and also the nicest looking clothing caps could afford. They all appreciated that and, in turn, were extremely loyal to the Brotherhood and me. I heard the men get up from the table and put their cups in the sink. I turned around, and they were looking at me smiling.  
"Well gentlemen, are we all ready to go back out in the world and give the Brotherhood what they want?" I said walking over to them.  
"Yes, ma'am." They said in unison, and we started laughing.  
"I know Shaun will do well on these tests. He not stupid or is he very timid, despite his exterior. He's a lot like me, so you better keep an eye on him." I placed my cup in the sink with theirs.  
"I will Nora. I know he'll do an outstanding job. We'll see you both on the Prydwen when we're through." Danse walked out to the carport and donned his power armor, and to collect Shaun, who was already walking up the street to him in his squire uniform. He and Shaun strode off into the distance as Arthur and I donned our armor. I inspected my plasma weapon and then Righteous Authority, my favorite laser rifle. They checked out, and I nodded to Arthur as we began the walk out of Sanctuary to a place where a vertibird could pick us up. I had installed communications set in his helmet while we were vacationing there and he switched it on.  
"Thank you for installing this for me Nora. It makes it nice to talk to you alone sometimes."  
"No problem Arthur. Always happy to help out a friend." We laughed at that as I tossed a signal flare out for pick up.  
"You know, I never got a chance to tell you how lucky I am to have you as a bodyguard. Thank you for being like this for me. I have always thought of you as a professional and your honesty and integrity will never be matched by anyone else."  
"Thank you, Arthur. I appreciate that you feel that why about our professional relationship."  
The vertibird dropped to the ground before us, and we boarded it immediately. The pilots greeted us, and we took off for the Prydwen. There was going to be some meeting there today, and Elder Maxson was to brief another Brotherhood of Steel Elder from the Chicago Chapter about my dealings with the Enclave. It was an urgent meeting, and I was needed for many reasons. As we floated through the air towards the airship, I heard Maxson flip his communication channel open again in my helmet speaker.  
"Nora, the Elder from Chicago, has some hard questions for you to answer. I know you are tired of being interrogated, but I have a feeling that he will try and do that to you. Just don't tell him anything that you don't have to. I think that would be best for all of us."  
"You know me, Arthur. I'm not one to divulge information on a voluntary basis. I'll have that wall up so fast it'll make his head spin."  
"Excellent, that's just what I wanted to hear. You've never let me down, Nora. I owe you for that."  
As we were pulled up on the flight deck of the airship, I saw two Brotherhood Knights from the Chicago Chapter standing there awaiting our arrival. I got off first and made a path for Elder Maxson. They knew who I was, and they parted for me like I was some nobleman. I led the Elder to the Command deck where he removed his helmet and greeted the other Elder. It was Elder Sam Tullis; he was an older male with scarring on his face from battles and he was just as dangerous as he looked. I had heard tales about how they were sent to the Chicago area from the West Coast of the United States and their airships crashed. His group were very much in power in the Midwest, and his troopers looked like they had been through hell. He was impressed when our eyes finally met my Enclave armor. They were a greenish hazel, his grayish hair made his eyes look even greener, and he smiled at me. Elder Maxson introduced me to him on the command deck at that point.  
"This is one of my two Sentinels, Nora Weiss. She's one of my personal bodyguards as well."  
Elder Tullus looked me up and down as I walked over to him and put my hand out. He shook it and nodded to me.  
"I see you have a unique set of talented people at your disposal here Maxson. You've done the Brotherhood very, very well. I was wondering if the stories I heard were true about your Sentinel here. An Enclave officer and returned here back to you, known as your "Left Hand of Justice." Now that I see her in her true fashion it's only fitting that she stands by your side. So tell me, Nora, how does it feel to be returned to your rightful place in this world?"  
I wasn't sure what he meant by that, so I answered as an officer would, using my silver tongue to slice the rigid air between us.  
"It feels great to stand among those that have the power to change the world, sir."  
"I want you to take that helmet off Sentinel, as a personal request. I want to see who I'm dealing with exactly."  
Maxson nodded to me, and I removed my helmet and placed it on my right arm. I watched as his eyes lit up and he looked right at my eyes.  
"Sweet Elder Maxson, she's pure and as cold as the steel they said she would be wearing. What an amazing relic from before the war to find in your path." He attempted to advance on Elder Maxson's position in an unusual way, and I blocked him. I put myself between Maxson and Tullus and held my ground facing my possible enemy. This surprised him, and he stopped to look at my face.  
"Well now. I see you're as loyal as they say as well. That's very fitting for the two of you, indeed. The reason I'm here today is to announce that we have been successful in building our airship in a similar fashion to this one here. We will be in the air around Chicago Airport, and we will be building more of these ships to strengthen our power in the Midwest. I'm glad I got to gaze upon the legendary "Fearless" Enclave officer that you now have under your control, Maxson. She's a thing of beauty, take care now. Both of you."  
He and his troopers departed the Prydwen in an odd looking vertibird that was a patched off Enclave rip-off. I didn't like that man, something about him made me feel uneasy and I thought he was a genuine creep.  
"That was very strange," Maxson said standing beside me as we watched them disappear into the distance through the glass of the command deck.  
"Yes, it was. I didn't know you were in contact with them. I didn't think anyone was in touch with them."  
Maxson's expression changed, and he scrunched his face as he gripped the railing hard.  
"Proctor Quinlan. He's been working on some new radio equipment after receiving P.A.M. from the Railroad. I bet he's the one that contacted them and gave them our position. Let's pay him a little visit shall we?"  
"Let's." Maxson and I departed the command deck for the lower level to talk to him about our creepy little encounter with Elder Tullus. Proctor Quinlan knew we were on the way and tried to hide under his bed when we entered the room. I ripped the bed up and grabbed him out from under it. I place him right in front of Maxson, and he got in his face.  
"What the hell have you been up to down here Quinlan?! Do you have something to tell you or me just going to keep it to yourself!"  
Quinlan stood still and said nothing. I wrapped my armored hand around his throat and slightly lifted him in the air to where he was standing on his tip toes and slightly choking.  
"Tell me or I'll have her crush your windpipe just to get patched up to do it again." He snarled as the sweat rolled down his face.  
"I didn't know that they were going to show up here unannounced like that. I didn't think they had the means to travel this far into the commonwealth. They wanted to communicate with us and have been trying to meet with us for years. They have spies in the Enclave and when they caught wind of Nora with that tattoo they were convinced that the Brotherhood had not deserted them, but lost them in the Midwest wastes. It was the first contact, to reunite the Brotherhood again and try to rebuild the United States of America."  
Maxson sneered and growled at him.  
"You realize how insane that sounds right?! It sounds just like the Enclave."  
The remarkable thing about my relationship with Arthur Maxson was, now that we had been bound together by healing each other, it made it far easier for him to speak to me through his mind.  
'He's lying through his teeth, squeeze him harder.' I could hear him command me through telepathy. I squeezed his neck harder and glared at him as he nearly hung in the air gasping.  
"What did you tell them exactly?" He grumbled in a very low, angry tone.  
"I told them--I told them," He started choking, so I lowered his body a little.  
"I told them that we were the East Coast Chapter, and we were friendly to other Brotherhood Chapters. They said that Robert McNeil worked for them as a spy and had been inserted into the Navarro Enclave. That's where they intercepted Nora. With her tattoo and history not only with the U.S. Navy Intelligence Division before the war and her involvement here they wanted to see her for themselves. If it weren't for them, we probably would have never seen Nora again. I was only trying to fortify our Chapter with a friendly response. I didn't know they were going to fly here right away for a meeting with you until they were almost here."  
Maxson glared at him and started scratching his chin in thought.  
'Climb inside his mind and make sure he's not still holding back any information from us.'  
I tilted my head to one side and stared into Quinlan's eyes. I glared deep into him and felt my thoughts reach into his brain. Quinlan closed his eyes in pain as I entered into his thoughts and mentally violated him. I dug around in his mind for answers and came back slowly as not to give him a nasty headache.  
"He's telling the truth," I said as I lowered him down to the floor. He started to collapse when his feet touched the ground, so I lifted into my arms and laid him down on his side on the ground. Maxson looked down at Quinlan with an enormous amount of angst written over his face.  
"Well, I hope you can trust this Robert McNeil, Nora. Otherwise, we might have a big problem on our hands. No one has had contact with this Chapter of the Brotherhood for many years, and they have been operating on their many outside guidelines. Let's hope our next encounter with them is a peaceful one."  
"Let's," I replied as we left Quinlan laying on the floor cowering and sobbing from what I just did to him. I turned back to him and kneeled to his side.  
"If you tell anyone about what I can do. I'll make what I just did look like a walk in a pre-war park."  
I stood up and rejoined Maxson as we returned to the command deck.  
"McNeil is a good man. He saved my life and covered up the fact that I was a high-ranking Brotherhood officer while the Enclave were reclaiming me into their ranks. We owe him a great deal and his son are an assistant to Doctor Braun now. He is just as intelligent as his father. Maybe the Chicago Chapter just wants to rejoin the Brotherhood as it once was and belong to the organization again, to make things whole."  
Maxson started to remove a cigar from his pocket and then pushed it back down.  
"Yeah, I think you might be right about that. I have been in contact with the Chicago Chapter in secret for a while now. I'm surprised that Quinlan found out how to communicate with them, very surprised. I just don't know why he would come here like that."  
The sun was starting to set, and Danse had not yet returned with Shaun. Maxson and I were beginning to get worried when a lone vertibird returned to the airship at dust. Danse and Shaun got off and began to march their way to the command deck to report to us. I stood my ground as Maxson had requested and they came on the command deck with their days work across their lips. Maxson turned to Shaun, and they saluted each other.  
"Well, Sentinel how did the young Squire do?"  
"He did an outstanding job, Elder. He will become a very accomplished Knight and maybe even a Paladin one day if he keeps up the efforts I witnessed today."  
"Superb, Shaun. Do you have anything to say for yourself, son?"  
"Elder Maxson, sir! I 'm proud to be a part of the future of the Brotherhood and thank you for the opportunity to present myself as an asset to our cause!" He saluted the Elder again, and he returned it.  
"You've done well. In the next coming weeks, you will be initiated into the Knight ranks and trained to become a great Brotherhood soldier. Danse, congratulations on a job well done. This young squire is a direct reflection of yourself and the time you invested in him. He will become an excellent soldier, just like his father."  
With that Danse and Shaun saluted me and returned it to them. I was so proud of them both, and especially how far they had come together. Shaun was becoming a strapping young man just like Danse.  
"Great job, both of you. I 'm so proud of you Shaun! You're going to be just like the rest of us, and maybe someday you can be a Sentinel like Danse."  
Shaun's face lit up, and he smiled ear to ear.  
"That would be great m-- Sentinel! Thank you so much, this means the world to me. Thank you all of you!"  
With that, Danse and Shaun returned to Sanctuary Hills. I was to remain on the Prydwen with Maxson for few more days. I was happy to see things progress as they had and I had never felt more proud of anyone else in my life. I slept alone that night listening to the hum of the engines on the airship. The quarters that Danse and I shared seemed so small without him here. In the back of my mind, a darkness crept and lurked around. I didn't like that Elder Tullus, and neither did anyone else. So why did he come here?  
Just then I heard the steel door slowly creak, as someone entered my dark room. I laid silent and smelled the air; it was Arthur Maxson. What was he doing in here? If he gets seen coming and going from here, we'll both be in hot water. I shined my pip-boy light on him, and he shielded his eyes from it. I lowered it to the ground, and he came over and sat on the bed next to me. He sighed heavily and stayed sitting sort of hunched over.  
"Arthur, what's wrong? You seem like you're in distress?"  
He looked back at me with his soft blue eyes in the tiny light of my pip-boy.  
"I hurt my arm."  
I frowned at that statement and sat up next to him.  
"How did you do that?"  
"Oh, I-Uh, slugged the wall in my quarters after I went to bed, trying to figure out why Tullus would suddenly just show up here. He only gave a twenty-four-hour notice; it was intercepted by Captain Kells. Proctor Quinlan was used as a tool for them to come and see us. I was stupid to my frustration, and now I hurt myself. On top of that, now I can't sleep because of this pain."  
"Which arm is it?"  
"The right arm."  
"Shoulder pain or no?"  
"Yeah, it hurts in the shoulder too."  
"You need to stop doing this to yourself Arthur. It's not going to solve anything by your being hurt."  
"I know. I didn't mean to do it."  
I took his right arm and removed the glove. He stuffed it in his pocket and unzipped his uniform to the nipple line for me. I peeled the fabric over his shoulder and pulled his arm out of the sleeve. I started with his hand and felt the bones and muscles in between them. I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary, so I continued into his forearm. I massaged his forearm and relaxed the muscles there as he tried to control his breathing.  
"Is that too hard?"  
"No. No, it's fine, it just hurts is all. I know you'll make it better."  
I smiled and continued to rub out the muscles and knots within them. I slowly traveled up his bicep and worked the structure that held the triceps and bicep together. He squirmed a little, but he didn't cry out in pain, so I continued to work on him. I ran my fingers over the ball of his shoulder, and I could feel the heat coming off of the injury site. He turned his face away as I wrapped my hand around it and squeezed. It was so tight you could have probably played a song on his skin.  
"You need to relax a little to make it go faster."  
"Okay, I'll try."  
He said slowing down his breathing and closing his eyes as I massaged the muscles in between his shoulder blades. I worked his neck and his shoulder as quietly as I could. Making little circles on his neck, he sighed out a little cry of pleasure, a release from the tension in his back. I slowly worked his shoulder a little harder, and it felt it pop underneath. It was going to take a little while, but I'll be worth every second of it. As my hand slid across his skin, I felt him slowly relax and change his posture. It took some time, but it had finally worked, his injury was healed, and he turned to face me now that I sat behind him on the bed.  
"Thank you, Nora, for caring enough about me to fix my mistake. I love you."  
I smiled and watched his expression. These actions Could lead to a lot of explaining if we didn't control ourselves here.  
"You're welcome Arthur. Try and get some sleep, I love you too." I put my hand on his cheek and kissed him deeply, with a slow burning passionate kiss. He closed his eyes and let me taste his mouth, and he made little humming sounds as I sucked on his lips.  
I pulled back and pushed him away with my palm against his chest.  
"Get your uniform back together and get out of here before someone see's you. Tomorrow is another busy day, and I want you to get some sleep. That kiss should help you heal faster, and when you hit your sack tonight, you'll fall asleep quickly. I promise. Now go, and I'll see you in the morning. I love you, goodnight."  
"Love you too, goodnight."  
He put his uniform back on correctly and slipped away to his quarters to sleep. I fell asleep with the feeling of satisfaction of making him feel exquisite and helping him sleep that night away in his blissful state.


	2. A gathering of friendly strangers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another mission. Dangerous? Yes. How dangerous? Well you're just going to have to find now, won't you?

It was starting to get into the afternoon when Proctor Quinlan called Danse and me to his office for a special mission. He was still jumpy around me after my encounter with him and Elder Maxson about keeping his nose out of particular radio traffic.  
Danse and I walked into space together in our black uniforms for his briefing.  
"Oh Sentinels, I'm pleased that you both came on such short notice. I have been told there may be some technology in the West Roxbury subway station. It's been deemed too dangerous for any of the scribes to accompany you there so I will give you the specifics of the item I'm looking for there."  
I frowned at that statement. 'Too dangerous.'  
"What do you mean too dangerous Quinlan? We've been on many dangerous missions with your Scribes and never had a problem before. What's the deal here?"  
"Well, you see, I sent Paladin Landau on this mission with two of our best scribes. They came back absolutely terrified and won't go back to finish the mission. I think they are superstitious, but that's just my opinion. Strange noises and things that can't be explained unless you're there as a witness, so they tell me."  
That wasn't like Landau to back down; he was a very well-known and accomplished knight from the Capital Wasteland. What the hell would scare them like that?  
"I don't believe in unfounded speculations Proctor. You can count on us to get the job done for you." Danse said without a hitch, and Quinlan smiled in reply.  
"Good, I knew I could count on you two. I have authorization from Elder Maxson for you both to execute this mission for me. I just wanted to see if you would volunteer for it first before having to force you to do it. The item you are looking for a part of what was called Project Madara. I'm not exactly sure what its purpose was, but it may hold the key to an unlimited power source. It should be located on one of the subway cars inside the station itself. You will find it inside of a green drab colored military case. I would suspect that there may be a skeleton still handcuffed to the case. That would be the best indicator that it's the legitimate case. Good luck Sentinels."   
He saluted us, and we left him there to collect the equipment needed to retrieve this case. Danse and I walked down the hallway thinking about our newest mission.   
"What do you think about how the other soldiers acted after trying to get this thing?" I asked Danse as we started prepping our weapons.  
"Well..." He said looking down the barrel of his new .44 magnum and spinning the chamber around before snapping it back into place. "I'm not sure what to think. It doesn't sound like super mutants or ghouls, though. Landau has been through wars with those abominations and never had a problem before. Whatever it is down there, I'm sure we can handle it."  
I pulled my .45 ACP 1911 from its case and pulled the slid back to check it out. I blew on the chrome of my pistol to watch my breath fog and slowly disappear over the chrome.   
"I hope you're right. I don't want to have a month's worth of repairs on my gear if it gets ugly down there."  
Danse smiled and nodded as I put my vice style holster on and snapped the pistol in place under my right arm pit.   
"You should have some help if the repairs are going to take that long. Besides the point, I don't think it's going to be as bad as Quinlan's leading us to believe. It'll work out fine, case in hand and dinner before midnight. Ba-da-bing-ba-da-boom. Just like that."  
I chuckled a little and smiled at him.  
"Okay. Let's get this show on the road."  
I donned my Enclave armor and made sure that the new modification allowed me to reach my pistol quickly. I was able to retrieve it from under the plates and slap it back into place just as if I were wearing a vest.  
"Outstanding! I love the modifications you've been making to your armor lately." Danse piped off standing in his armor a few feet away.  
"Thank you Danse. I'm happy that you approve some much of my little experimentations with my equipment."  
"No problem, just my humble opinion."  
We walked out to the flight deck, taking a vertibird over to the area of the station, and near the old Milton General Hospital. It was dark now, and the twilight was kissing the sky goodnight with its colors fading over the horizon. The bird didn't need to set down for us, as we jumped out the sides of it and activated our jet packs to land safely on the ground below. It was eerily quiet after the vertibird flew off and left us alone there. It had been about two months since I had cleared out the place of raiders and ghouls. I looked at my pip-boy through the view glass I had installed on the forearm of my armor. The time was 2117. It seemed unusually dark outside tonight since there was no moon out. Something felt wrong about the place as we were being watched. I had been here many times during the day and never felt anything like this.  
"Let's get inside and find that case. I just want to get this over with and get the satisfaction of shoving that case in Quinlan's face."  
"Okay. That sounds funny, I can't wait to see the look on his stuck up face. Damn stiff." Danse said as I led us into the station.  
It was dark, damp and creepy on the main level. We started looking around for anything of use since we were already here. We took our helmets off and used small flashlights to look around in the darkened areas. It smelled like old dead blood in here. It was damp and nasty, like an unkempt public restroom. I didn't like that smell, but it wasn't unbearable. I was looking around under the counter of the main registry when it dawned on me that it was silent in here. The sounds of the station had stopped, no music, not chiming of the computer messages of the train schedules, nothing, but the sounds of us searching the place.   
Just then I heard what looked like a paper towel dispenser in the bathroom, and it was disturbing. I didn't think that those things worked. Danse stopped what he was doing and looked right at me. I swear I could see the hairs on his face stand on end at the sound of that machine. I slowly pulled my sidearm and peeked inside the bathroom. It was empty, and a paper towel was hanging out of the dispenser. I caught a slight hint of musk in the air as if someone passed by me.  
I looked around the bathroom, opening all the doors and then exited.  
"There isn't anyone in here. It's clear." I said with a little uncertainty.  
"Good. Let's just get that damn case and get out of here. I don't like this place."  
"Copy that."  
We started down the stairs to the lower level when we began to hear what I thought were voices of people having some same conversation. We stopped right there and looked at each other. Slowly we edged down to the lower area and much to our surprise we couldn't believe what we saw with our own eyes.  
The subway platform looked brand spanking new, clean and smelled like fresh paint. It was lit up like a light bulb, with white light's and many people were standing there like they were waiting for a train to arrive. Men and women are looking like they had just gotten off of work and holding suitcases, bags and yet others with nothing but newspapers. They stood around in suits and dresses from before the war, smoking cigars, cigarettes, and talking amongst themselves.   
I felt like we had been transported back in time before the bombs fell, and as none of our future had even happened like it was a figment of my imagination. Danse nudged me, and I looked at him. He looked frightened by this scene.   
"They shouldn't be here. This isn't real; there's no way---" He started to speak when a train came blasting into the station through the tunnel. It rushed through with a loud hissing sound, and the wind from it passed us like a ghost through a wall. The people just stood there like it didn't happen. It didn't faze them, and they hadn't noticed us either.   
"What in the hell is going on here?" I said as they turned and looked at us.  
It fell silent as their gaze met ours in the weird sense of cold, dark, deathly stare would. I swallowed and smiled nervously as one man puffed on his cigar. I looked him over and realized who I was attempting to identify. He was a man about six foot tall, military hair cut, long black trench coat and a light gray fedora hat. In his hand were a military case of a drab green color and the glint of a handcuff around his wrist.   
"Madara," I whispered.  
Suddenly there was a sound from behind us of power failures and the lights leading down the stairs began to shut down one by one on their way to us. The hair on my entire body stood on end with a feeling of dread, as the lights failed closer and more rapidly.  
'CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK!'  
The entire place fell pitch black. The emergency lights flashed on, and the place had been restored to its previous state of decay. Just as it had looked every other time I had been there; Old, damp, nasty and dirty, with derailed trains and collapsed tunnels. Those people that were no more than five feet from me had vanished into thin air, except for one small item that now lay smoldering on the platform near the open door of the derailed train car. That man's cigar laid on the ground with a curl of smoke leaving the end of it. I kneeled down and picked it up. As I lifted the cigar into the air, the entire thing turned to dust and ashes, filtering through my fingers and disappearing before the evidence could touch the ground, with a silvery glitter.  
Danse stood watching me with a look of horror on his face. He was genuinely terrified and creeped out by the whole scene. I had a sick feeling entering the back of my mind. Something atrocious was lurking around down here, and it was no longer safe. Just then something moved in the darkness behind me. Danse pulled his laser rifle, and it charged up. I bolted over next to his side and pulled my plasma rifle off of my back.  
"What the fuck was that?!" I said looking around in a panic.  
"I have no idea, but I think we've worn out our welcome here."   
We were instinctively backing towards the stairs when we both heard a man's voice from behind us whisper.  
'Don't come looking for trouble, because it will soon find you.'  
We both snapped around to find an empty stairwell. That's when it happened. A strong wind blew at our backs, and I felt the intense heat of an inferno as if it were approaching us very fast. I looked back, and Danse slammed himself to the ground. The entire place was on fire; everything was burning like it had turned to a flash fire instantly. I began up the stairs trying to pull Danse up at the same time when he started to scream.   
"Something's got my legs! Nora! Help!! It's attempting to pull me back in there!!! No!!!!!"  
He grabbed the handrail where it attached to the floor, and his body was lifted up by an invisible force. I grabbed him by the shoulders and jerked him as hard as I could, activating my jet pack for an extra boost, rocketing him free from whatever it was that held him captive, and we slammed into the ceiling on the main level. The inferno followed us with a real ferocity up the stairwell and into the next level. I ripped Danse to his feet, and we ran as fast as humanly possible for the exit with the flames licking at our heels. We hit the doors so hard they slammed open, and we rolled across the ground to the other side of the street. We were both steaming from the heat of the fire. The inferno belched out of the open doors at us in anger. As suddenly as it had done that a loud sucking sound started, as it pulled all the available air around us into itself. It pulled back into the doorway, and the steel doors slammed shut with a loud, BANG!  
Fearing an explosion that would kill us instantly, we decided that we weren't going to stick around and ran away from the place of safety. We probably ran a mile or two before we stopped to check ourselves over for damage and injury. The lower half of Danse's power armor had severe burn damage to it and crushed damage on his calves. Something had grabbed him in there. I snapped a signal flare down, and he looked me over. The entire surface of my armor had all the black paint bubbled, and the back had all the paint burned off of it. The forearms of my armor had suffered severe burn damage, and my air system was damaged during our escape. We were alive, and that's all that mattered at that point. As the vertibird landed and we looked back in the direction of the station, we looked at each other in bewilderment.  
"What the hell was Project Madara?"  
"And what the hell just tried to kill us down there?"   
One thing was sure, it wasn't some superstition. This was a real tangible thing, and it meant business.


	3. The Midnight Taveler

Nick Valentine and Preston Garvey have been traveling together a lot between Diamond City and Sanctuary Hills. It was a good change of pace from just hanging out in the same old settlement and meeting like- minded people across the commonwealth was something they both enjoyed. Some people weren't very comfortable around Nick due to obvious reasons so they would usually ask Preston odd questions about him.  
"One woman asked me if you were going to kill me and take my body to the Institute for testing." Preston laughed as they walked down the old road back home.  
"Well I didn't think traveling with you would be this much fun Preston. I have met some of the most interesting people along the way. Maybe I will join the Minutemen and help you guys out. I sort of miss being a detective and all since I haven't been in Diamond City much these days."  
Preston smiled at that and thought it might not be such a bad idea. As they moseyed up the road towards the Red Rocket, a man came running up behind them. They both turned back and looked at the man as he huffed his way along the road.  
"You know who he is?"   
"Yeah he lives just outside of Diamond City, his name's James Cooley. He works in Diamond City from time to time. I wonder what he wants." Nick said stopping and watching the man as ran to them.  
"Nick! Nick wait up for a sec please!" The man struggled to speak from his run as he stopped at them.  
"Hello James, what brings you all the way out here?"  
He bent over panting in an attempt to catch his breath.  
"There's been something weird happening in some of the settlements, and I'm so glad to have found you. I was waiting for you to make a visit to your office but I got impatient."  
"What do you mean weird?" Preston said pulling his rifle out in a bit of an unusual way.  
"Someone has been taking children from some of the settlements. It started about three weeks ago, and people are really on edge. We thought it was raiders, but we had guards at the last settlement. The kids were screaming and whatever took the last one was invisible. It grabbed the child, and they were both gone. Nobody saw what who it was, and now some people are saying crazy stuff. We need your help."  
Nick looked over at Preston. They both knew that this wasn't going to be an easy case but it importance was beyond the call of just letting it go.   
"Okay, where do you want us to meet you?"  
"You can meet me over at Sommerville Place. Most of those already involved think that's the next place things are going to happen."  
"Okay, you can count on us to help you guys out." Preston chimed in.  
"I hate it when people hurt or kill children. That's something that never really leaves you, and it becomes a part of you. Like Nora and Shaun, poor woman. We'll get these bastards, and I hope we can get the kids back." Nick said in a dark, serious tone.  
James waved them off returning to Sommerville Place to wait for them. Preston and Nick had to pick some items from home for the long trip first.  
They walked into town, and they have met my Dogmeat. He had taken to Preston since Nora had been gone for so long on here assignments. Preston always liked Dogmeat and played with him every chance he got. Nick continued over to his place to collect what he needed, and Preston knelt down and started petting the dog.  
"Hi, their boy. Did you miss me?"  
"Woof!"  
"Oh, what a good dog. Do You want to come along with us Dogmeat? It'll be an adventure for you since your Master has been away from home so long."  
The dog whimpered a little and laid down looking up at him.  
"Oh, Dogmeat she'll be home soon. In the mean time come with us. Come on boy."  
The dog stood up and barked playfully at him.   
"Okay! Okay! Let's go!" Preston said as he walked over to his house to get some stuff together to Nick had already done. Dogmeat followed him happily into his house.  
Preston and Nick met back up on the bridge into town with Dogmeat in tow.   
"Got everything?"  
Nick nodded to him and looked down at Dogmeat, who barked playfully at him.  
"You sure it's okay to bring him along with us?"  
"I'm sure it'll be fine. Nora's a good friend of mine, and I don't think she'd want Dogmeat just to lay around and rot here. It's good for him and good for us. He may be of some help if the kids have been taken, and his nose may hold a key to where they went."  
Nick thought about that for a moment and reached down and patted Dogmeat on the head.  
"Good planning Preston. I'm glad that you brought him along with us. I hope those kids are okay. Let's get out there and help these people."   
The strode off into the scenery as a dark shadow crept across the Wasteland far away. It slithered around some rocks and up an old creek bed not far from Sommerville Place. The sun had just set, and the twilight was starting to paint the sky. On the road stood a dark figure of a man. He strolled as the dead leaves crunched under his feet on the broken pieces of concrete. He wore a brown trench coat, a black hat and carried in his one hand an old briefcase like one a door to door salesman would have taken before the war.  
He was standing there in the twilight, with his face turned down to the ground, as the shadow of the past day washed past him, and he slowly faded and disappeared.  
Several people were sitting outside of the house at Sommerville Place, and the kids were running around and chased each other in a fenced in area next to it. Nick, Preston, and Dogmeat were met by James just as they made it to the porch and everyone watched them.   
"Oh thank god you're here! Nick, Preston this is Mrs. Crabtree and Mrs. Brownstein. They had their children taken from them over at Jamaica Plain. They have heard stories from as far away as County Crossing. Here please coming inside and talk to them." James rushed them inside as Dogmeat was piled on by six or seven children. Preston laughed at Dogmeat as they pulled his ears and rubbed his fur the wrong way.  
"Good boy Dogmeat, you keep these kids busy while we talk to these women about their situation. Don't let any of them out of your sight okay boy?"  
"Woof! Woof!" He replied as the kids kept trying to climb on him.  
Preston looked around as Nick sat down at the table inside with Mrs. Crabtree first. She was a white lady about thirty-five years old wearing a blue and yellow dress. She was very distressed about her six-year-old son Leon going missing a few days ago. Nick pulled out a pad and pen to write down everything, just like a real detective would.  
"Mrs. Crabtree, I'm Detective Nick Valentine from Diamond City. I understand that your son Leon Crabtree went missing a few days ago. What can you tell me about him?"  
"Oh, he's such a good boy. He were about four foot five inches tall, sandy brown hair and was wearing his favorite black and white striped shirt that day. Blue jeans and sneakers. He had been playing with Billy Martin down the street that day, and they were such best friends." She started crying, and Nick attempted to comfort her.  
"I'm so sorry for your loss ma'am. Please try and remember anything you can about those last few days. We may still be able to find him and return him to you alive."  
She nodded her head and slowly stopped sobbing.  
"They had been playing near the edge of the wooded area near our home. Well, what was left of the wooded area? I told them not to go out that far because it was dangerous but you know how kids were. It was almost dark when Billy came running as fast as he could to the house and was screaming. The rest of the town and I went outside to see what all the commotion was, and he just started talking crazy."  
"Crazy?! What do you mean?"  
"He said that there was something out in the old woods chasing them. He said Leon was right behind him, and they were almost back home when he turned away from him for one second, and he was gone. He could here Leon screaming for help, and he couldn't see him. So he ran home to get help. The men of the settlement all went out to find him, but all we found was his shoe a long way away from the edge of town. That was four days ago, and the tracks said that whatever took him is headed this way."  
The entire settlement got soundless as now everyone was listening to her recount the events of her lost son. Nick tapped the pen on the pad and looked at her very carefully.  
"I need to know if anything was out of the ordinary before your son went missing. Maybe any visitors, strange sounds or problems with raiders?"  
She sat there and moved her face around in thought.  
"As a matter of fact, there was something strange that happened a few days before that. There was a man that showed up after the sun had set. He walked into town when it was starting to pretty dark come to think of it. He was strange."  
"Strange?" This got Nick's attention quickly.  
"Yeah. He was some door to door salesman. He was trying to sell his wares, and he didn't ask for much money from anyone. He did go from door to door come to think of it. What strange is he asked if I had any kids? I said yes of course, and he gave my son a free stuffed animal toy from his bag. He said it was a gift and that it would make an excellent companion for him in the dark. He left after he visited every house in town and I have not seen him since."  
"Did anyone else get a toy from this man?"  
"Not that I know of."  
"Did anyone buy anything from him?"  
"Yes. Mr. Jacobs bought some cutting boards and kitchen knives from the man."  
"Interesting. Is there anything else you can think of?"  
She sat there and looked at the floor until she snapped her eyes up to Nick's.  
"Yes! Yes, there was! He tried to sell me a lightning rod for my house. I don't even know what the hell a lightning rod is or why I would even need one. He also said there was a storm coming, and the lightning rod would keep my family safe if I bought it. I thanked him for the toy and sent him on his way. He was very insistent on that thing for some reason. You don't think that he had anything to do with this do you?!"  
Nick closed the notepad and put the pen back in his pocket.  
"I don't Mrs. Crabtree, but I think he may have some vital information about this investigation. Thank you for all your help and I hope we find your son."  
"Thank you, Detective."  
Nick tipped his hat to her and walked outside. Preston walked up to him and handed him the paper interview of Mrs. Brownstein. Nick looked it over and nodded his head.  
"It's almost the same thing to the tee that happened to Mrs. Crabtree. This quiet, eerie Preston. I don't like how this is starting to turn out."  
"What would grab kids in the night from their beds if it's not men?" Preston scratched his head and replaced his hat.  
"I don't know. It may be some fairy tale come true, but that's insane to think like that. We need to work with our facts first." Nick said looking out at the twilight.  
"I think we should spend the night here if you don't mind. In the morning, we can continue our search for clues and interview more people."  
"Sounds like a plan to me. And if this mystery salesman shows up here we can talk to him as well." Nick affirmed.   
It was getting dark fast, and a cold wind started to pick up. It felt creepy and strangely sinister as if it were carrying a warning from beyond the grave. The children were all laying on the ground around Dogmeat when the wind hit the settlement.  
Dogmeat stood up and started growling towards the south and all the hair on his body stood on end. The children began to wake up slowly, and they all huddled together in a corner of the house as Dogmeat got between them and the doorway. Nick and Preston looked in the direction of the wind's origin, and they could just barely make out the outline of a lone man walking in that direction, and he was carrying a suitcase. He slowly approached as a radiation storm started out on the horizon behind him. Preston turned to Nick and tapped him on the shoulder.  
"If that's not the very definition of fucking creepy I don't know what is."  
"Yeah, I'd have to agree with you on that one."  
The man walked into view as he reached the house. He looked like he was kind of old when the bombs fell as he had been turned into a ghoul. He didn't sound like an ordinary ghoul, though, and they couldn't put their finger on what it was exactly that made him so different.  
The man walked up to Preston and Nick setting his briefcase down on the porch.  
"Hello gentlemen, how is everyone this beautiful evening?" His voice was deep and commanding.  
"We're fine, how about yourself a stranger?" Nick answered him.  
"Oh, I'm having a pleasant time roaming the lands here, meeting new people and selling my wares. Would you folks be interested in anything I might have to offer?"  
"That depends on, what have you got in that briefcase of yours?" Preston asked stepping off the porch next to the man with his rifle drawn.  
"I have an excellent assortment of lightning rods. Some of them are hundreds of years old; I also have household goods like kitchen equipment and children's books."  
"Mind if I take a look in your bag sir?"  
"No not at all and if see anything you like feel free to inspect it before purchase," He said smiling at Nick as he started looking through the man's bag on the porch. Nick finished looking the bag over and found nothing there to give any clue. He questioned the man about his travels, and he didn't indicate anything other than what Mrs. Crabtree had already stated. The man watched as Nick stood back up and he smiled at him.  
"Well, I'm sorry for all the questioning sir. I didn't see anything here that I wanted at this time but thank you for stopping by."  
"No problem gentlemen. I'll be on my way now if you don't mind. I have many more stops to make before the night's through." He tipped his hat to them, picked up his bag and left.  
They all watched him as he vanished into the night and Dogmeat laid back down with the children and went to sleep.   
The next day everything seemed fine, the children were playing out in the yard, and Dogmeat was running around wildly having fun with them. That's when Nick spotted one of the children with a stuffed toy animal, a tiger. He tapped Preston on the arm and pointed as the child ran past them with it.  
"I wonder where she got that from?"  
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Nick stopped the giggling little girl and kneeled to her level.  
"That's such a lovely tiger you have there is it okay if I see him?"  
"Sure." She handed him the toy, and he looked it over and handed it back.  
"What's his name?"  
"His name is Leon, the tiger lion."  
"Where did you get such an unusual name for him?" Preston asked the little girl with a stranded look on his face.  
"I voice in the wind gave it to me last night."  
"Honey, where did you find this? Can you show me?" Nick asked.  
"Sure. Come on it was over here." She said skipping away from them down the road in which the man walked last night. As they got closer to where the girl found the toy Preston spotted something in the grass about twenty yards away. The little girl led Nick over to the base of a large oak tree that was dead and pointed.   
"That's where I found it. Right there."  
Nick looked around and found nothing out of the ordinary when Preston called out to him to come over. Nick and the little girl went over to him, and they looked down at that man's bag laying there.   
"Nothing has been taken that I can see, and I don't see any blood anywhere here. It looks like he dropped it and left." Preston said looking inside the bag with a stick.  
"Well, let's take it back to the house and lock it up. So if he comes back, it'll be safe for him."  
"I don't think he's coming back," Preston said as he picked up the bag and they walked back to the house. The little girl ran over to the other children with her toy, and they continued playing. Nick handed the bag over to the man of the house, and he locked it up.  
"What do you make of it Nick?"  
"I don't know Preston. I don't know. I think we need to stay here for another night and ensure that he doesn't come back and hurt that little girl."  
Nightfall came, Dogmeat was laying inside with the children on the floor, and the girl with the toy and her brother were sleeping upstairs in their beds. Preston was sleeping outside when Nick heard Dogmeat growling inside the house at something. He woke Preston and motioned to the upper windows of the house as the dog got louder and the snarling was beginning to get vicious.  
Upstairs the little girl and boy had been playing in their room when the little girl couldn't find her toy tiger.   
"Hey, Mitch have you seen my new toy, Leon? I can't find him anywhere, and I wanted to have him with me."  
"I don't know where it is? Leave me alone. I want to go to sleep now."  
The little girl was looking around the room for it when she heard a voice calling her, and Nick could hear it outside too.  
"I'm over here," It whispered. It sounded inhuman but not like a synth or was much older and a lot more sinister.  
"Preston, there's something else in that house with them," Nick said looking up at the second story.  
"Where the hell's that damn toy?"   
Just then the little girl was reached under the bed for her toy. Her short little arms couldn't reach it as it was way back against the wall.   
"I can't reach you."  
"Just a little further, you're almost there," I said as she tried harder to reach it.  
Nick bolted to the door on the outside of the house to the second floor. It was locked, and Preston kicked it open as Dogmeat rushed up the stairs in front of them. All the loud noises had woken up everyone else, and they were all alerted to the fact that something was after their children. As Dogmeat rushed into the room, the little girls brother started screaming as the little girl was ripped from her bed by an invisible force. The dog dove under the bed after her but the bed flew up into the air and Dogmeat was thrown across the room with a yelp. Nick and Preston entered the room as the dog fell to the floor, and Preston tried to aim at whatever was holding the girl. It moved so fast that it burst through the wall and outside to the ground. Gunfire ensued as the screaming girl was carried off into the night by her attacker and kidnapper.   
The night proved to be harrowing as they were unable to locate the girl or any sign of her. Dogmeat was patched up by her family as Nick and Preston returned with no new news. Everyone knew that the dog was the only thing that could track down the girl, and he was injured trying to save her.   
"I think that the dog will be okay tomorrow. We will all help look for her then."   
The father walked into the house and comforted her brother as he cried in his mother's arms. He was only about five years old, and the girl was seven. What a horrible thing to witness as a child. Nick walked into the house and was talking with the family.  
"Son, I need to ask you about your sister. I know you're scared, but I need to know what you saw in the bedroom, and please tell me what happened the best you can okay?"  
The little boy shook his head in agreement and sat on the floor with Nick.  
"Kendra was looking for that new toy of hers. I didn't want to get into trouble, and I told to be quiet. She said that it was under the bed, and she couldn't reach it. Then she stated that it was talking to her, and I didn't hear anything. But then this thing grabbed her and pulled her under the bed. She was screaming, and it was under the bed! Under the bed! It was under the bed! Under the bed!" The little boy started screaming and pointing at a toy outside on the ground behind everyone.   
It was the little girl's tiger.  
Her parents grabbed him up and rocked him back and forth, as Nick grabbed the tiger toy off the ground and examined it.   
"We will find your daughter. Tomorrow we will find her." Nick said walking away with the toy in his hand. They watched him as he took his hat off and looked out across the wasteland and ran his hand across his face and looked back at the tiger toy.  
"You son of a bitch! You better watch out behind you. Because I'm not far away, not far at all." He said putting his hat back on.  
The next day came, and Dogmeat was ready to start looking for the girl. They had plans and weapons if they met up with anything like Super Mutants. Using the tiger toy Dogmeat led them on the trail of the girl and her attacker. The scent led us near Cutler Bend, and it was starting to get creepy as they got closer. A fog surrounded them all as they got to where the scent ended and Dogmeat started walking in circles.   
The fog was so thick, it was like walking around in soup, and there was no escape. Nick, Preston, and Dogmeat had been separated from the rest of the group, and their shouting could no longer be heard through this nasty fog. Dogmeat stopped moving and started growling at something in the mist. Nick and Preston drew their weapons and pointed them into the fog at the movement that they could hardly see. The dog started barking and snarling wildly at Preston's side as a figure began to emerge from the fog in front of them.  
It was the salesman from the other night, and he was now horribly disfigured. Half his face had been ripped off, and his clothing covered in blood. He lifted his arm and pointed past them into the fog as they heard a loud hissing sound start behind them. As they looked back the man vanished, and the fog fell away, to reveal that they were standing in an abandoned mine shaft alone in the dark. Dogmeat started looking around nervously in circles as Nick found a way to make a torch. The light from the torch showed them something much more horrifying than they could have imagined. There we many Super Mutants, Ghouls and other people trapped in a perpetual state of horror in stone. They were all statues of their former selves locked in a purgatory inside of this old mine.  
"There's got to be hundreds of them here. Where did they all come from?"  
"There real question is who brought them all here and for what purpose. Tells find that little girl and get out of here."  
Dogmeat whimpered, and they heard a little girl crying in one of the tunnels.   
"Where is she boy?" Preston let the dog sniff the toy again, and he ran down the tunnel after the sounds.  
They chased the dog down the tunnel, and the little girl was tied up to an old crane next to the bodies of many other dead children.  
"Well so much for bringing any of the others out alive," Nick said scooping up the girl and as they turned around the salesman stood in the darkened tunnel with his briefcase looking right at them. Preston lifted his rifle at the man when he snapped his fingers and then fog returned, engulfing them and spitting them back out in the wasteland not far from Sommerville Place.  
The sun was coming up, and the mist drifted away from them. Dogmeat, Preston, Nick and the little girl were all on the road back to where they had once been. The salesman was standing down the roadways looking over at them, as he tipped his hat smiling the fog lifted away, and he slowly vanished as he turned, and started walking down the road. Leaving behind the sound of his footsteps crunching in the dead leaves as he continued his endless journey back from whence he came.


	4. Don't sit so close to the television

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, I'm sorry it's been so long waiting for the next episode. I have been working on a tone of projects lately and if you like these stories please check all my other works if you get the chance. In this riveting episode our Sentinel's find themselves as unwelcome guest's in an old 'seemingly' abandoned house during a frigid winter storm. Will they end up staying 'for dinner'? Let's find out.

It had been really cold lately, and the wind was absolutely relentless. If we hadn't been wearing our armor, we probably would have frozen to death out there. A freezing rain had started, and the ice began to form on the leading edges of my armor plating.  
"Danse! Danse we have got out of this weather! We're both going to be iced over here soon there's no way we can make it all the back tonight!" I yelled as loud as possible over the whipping wind as debris flew past us.  
"Come on! Let's get inside that old house. I hope that it can hold up long enough for the storm to pass!" He shouted pointing to an abandoned house slowly being consumed by the sea foam that was blowing wildly around our bodies. It was a difficult march over to it as the foam got deeper and we now waded up to our waists in it.   
We had traveled through this place many times in the past, and I didn't remember ever seeing a house like this here. It was a huge house that looked mostly intact from its exterior. This gothic Victorian was amazing when we finally made it up on the porch, two stories with beautiful gables on the roof and the most interesting front door. Everything was solid wood and hand carved on this door, but the knocker itself. Danse wanted to bust into the place, but I reached up and knocked with the knocker. It was the head of a griffin, with a large gold ring in its beak and ruby red eyes as I saw it through the light of my headlamp. I knocked it once, and we both watched the door unlatch and slowly swing inwards. We launched into the house as the wind blasted the foam again and Danse slammed the door behind us.  
The place was devoid of any life that we could see. All the furniture had been covered with sheets, and the dust was caked on top of everything inside. We slowly walked around the first floor into the kitchen, the parlor room where two chairs sat in front of an old tv in the corner. I thought it was rather peculiar that these were the only things in the house that weren't covered. Into the living room where a huge fireplace sat waiting for a warm fire with all the wood stacked next to it. Danse went upstairs and found the place to be much like it was downstairs. We exited our armor, and I started the fire. We sat and watched it crackle to life inside the stone enclosure as the wind made the house creak and moan in retaliation to its destruction.   
We hung up our uniforms and socks over the fireplace as it got hotter inside and the house was strangely warm and comfortable. We uncovered the sofa in the living room and sat on it in our underwear eating the last of our rations from the long trip. The radiant heat felt good as Danse, and I watched each other from our positions. It had been a while since we had time alone together and this place, warm and inviting as it was, well, it didn't take a genius to figure out what we both had on our minds as we set our empty ration cans on the floor near the legs of sofa and laid in each other's arms. We very slowly started kissing each other's lips, and I sucked on his tongue as he hummed and rocked us both to this sweet escape from it all.  
Suddenly we both heard the tv set come on in the other room with a--CLICK!-BUZZ!--- we stopped what we were doing, and Danse lifted himself off of me to look over the couch into the doorway of the other room. He could see the illumination from the tv on the floor and then there was a sound, a broadcast.  
"Reports are just coming in---BUZZ! FIZZ!--Confirmation of nuclear detonations all across the eastern seaboard, in places like New York and Washington----BUZZ!BUZZ!BUZZ! CLICK!---"   
The silence had us both off the couch and quickly zipping back into our uniforms at that point. I grabbed my pistol and racked the slid back loading a round in the chamber. We entered the room to find a dark tv set in the corner and the two chairs empty as its audience.   
"That was fucking weird," I said as I lowered the gun and we walked back into the living room together.  
"I thought that this place had no power. How would the tv even come on if that were the case?"  
"It wouldn't, maybe we're just hearing things. It's been a long trip this time, and I guess that we haven't actually slept much these days."  
"Very true. That is a legitimate point." We sat in front of the fire and Danse put his arm around my shoulders and held me tight.  
Then we heard the sound of little metal wheels on the wood floor behind us.   
SQUEAK!SQUEAK!SQUEAK!   
We both looked over our shoulders and the tv set on it little stand had rolled into the doorway of the other room, and we watched it turn on again. This time, it was a man's voice, and the snow pattern on the screen rolled uncontrollably.   
"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. The screen rolled slower, and the picture changed to cowboys on horses, shooting and chasing Indians. It rolled again ---FLICK! SNAP! BUZZ!---"And later today on the news we will discuss---BUZZ! BUZZ! FIZZ! POP!!"  
It was changing channels faster and faster then it went to a screen that showed a beautiful sunny day outside with birds singing and the sun setting. The man's voice returned and crackled from its speaker.  
"It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone."   
Then the tv shut off; the fire was snuffed out with a sharp WHAP! Sound as the entire house began to shake violently. The house went up and down with all the doors on every cabinet opening-closing rapidly spilling out the contents. The drawers in the kitchen are flapping wildly as the silverware was shot into the walls as we scrambled to get back into our power armor near the entry door.  
The chandelier in the foyer swung like a monkey from a tree as we got back in our armor and it reached downwards at us with its angry light fixtures like it had grown claws and was trying to capture us. We dove back into the living room away from its grasp, and there was an old woman standing in the doorway next to the tv set.  
"Oh, we don't get many visitors these days. Not after the accident."   
Then she started laughing as the door slammed shut and her laughs echoed throughout the creepy old house. We ran through to the back door and as Danse flung it open there was a giant monkey with cymbals waiting outside for us. It banged them together loudly with its eyes lit up like Christmas trees and advanced towards the open door with its insane banging.   
BANG!BANG!BANG!   
It forced us back inside as the banging from its instrument continued and the house shook each time it slammed them together. Danse slammed the door closed almost as fast as it got to it and we were pushed back the sudden rush of air.  
We started to lose our footing as the thing outside slammed the house with the incredible song.  
BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!   
The house shrieked and moaned as we feel over each other and crawled away from it into the kitchen. We got inside the kitchen and just as the old door swung shut the sounds and shaking stopped immediately. We laid on the floor listening to our surroundings to make sure it had stopped, and we weren't imagining things.  
"Is it---over?"  
"I haven't a clue. Just be careful."  
We both slowly opened the door to the living from the kitchen to see the fire crackling gently in the fireplace, and everything was pristine. Like that whole thing as a dream and that it hadn't happened at all. Then the most insane thing happened to us.  
What we were looking at was not possible.   
The entire room was upside down! The furniture was on the ceiling, and so was the fireplace!  
Gravity suddenly took hold and we were slammed to the floor, or ceiling rather, and now the room we were just in was upside down. The kitchen door shoved us into the living room, and the scene changed as the old woman walked out of the parlor, there was banging at the front door and over to the front door, she went like she was going to answer it.   
"I'm coming, I'm coming, keep your britches on!" She said in an angry tone as she reached for the front door knob the chandelier above her reached down and grabbed her by the head! It lifted her up into the ceiling, as she screamed the house creaked and made strange munching sounds. The woman was gone, and the chandelier made its way back to exactly as it was, but for a slight swinging of the crystals that hung from it.  
Suddenly a policeman burst through the door with several others, and they started looking around with guns drawn.  
"Mrs. Peachcroft?! Mrs. Peachcroft?! Are you here?!" There was no answer, and the men didn't see us laying on the floor watching. It was as if we were in someone's memory watching this scene unfold.  
"Check the other rooms, she's bound to be here somewhere. That screaming just now was not a coincidence." He said to the other men as he put his sidearm away.   
Two of them went upstairs, and the other two went into the parlor as the main policeman walked over us into the kitchen. We stood up slowly as we heard a conversation start in the parlor. The tv was playing, and one of the men shouted out.  
"Hey, Sergeant come here and look at this!" We walked into the room, and the Sergeant walked past us over to the screen where his men stood. One of the men changed the channel, and other man looked at him in confusion.  
"We can't get channel 12 all the way out here! What are you doing?!"  
"This was the channel it was on when I saw it, look there it is again."  
They watched a strange scene unfold before their eyes on that old tv. They saw the old woman get up from her chair, yelling at them at the door, go over to the door, get grabbed by the chandelier and disappear into the ceiling. The screen changed to white flickering when they heard gunfire and men screaming from upstairs.  
"Help!" One man screamed as the shot rang out.   
BANG! BANG! BANG! Followed by a blood-curdling scream as the three policemen ran out of the room and we followed them up the stair case, guns drawn. At the top of the staircase was a single smoking thirty-eight caliber revolver and down the hallway about five feet was a bloody patrolman's hat. The Sergeant picked up the hat and looked around the hallway and into the bedrooms when the house moaned loudly. It shook, and we fell down the stairs with the other policemen and it sounded as if the house were warning everyone to get out!  
The policemen, Sergeant, included, ran out of that house as scared as could be, given the situation.   
"We need backup! We need backup right away!" The Sergeant yelled into his radio as they left the house and as we attempted to follow them the door slammed in our faces, the scene returned to as it was in our reality. Cold night, a warm fire and the tv set playing static in the parlor.   
Waiting.  
Waiting for the next program to start.  
Danse and I backed away from the front door watching the chandelier above us. The sound of the tv set buzzing and crackling in the next room was unnerving, to say the least.  
That's when we heard it, the sounds of people crying for help off in the distance somewhere, but it sounded like it was the house.   
"Help. Help I'm up here." The whisper crept through us.  
The creepy sensation of someone being trapped in this place made us both jump as we bumped into each other at the bottom of the stairwell.   
"Help us, please..."  
The voice now sounded like more than one person, and we both looked up the stairwell towards the sounds of pain and crying. The tv in the other room started to play something, and we were drawn to it by the sounds....the sounds of our voices. We walked over to the screen and there we were, we were outside in the storm, marching through the sea foam and the wind. The ice was forming on our gear, and we made our way into the house. Just as we had done a few short hours ago.  
"What the hell is going on here?! How is this thing able to play back what only we now we have done?" Danse said in a shocked voice as I reached behind it and pulled the plug from the wall it continued to play our actions without interruption.  
Next we watched in horror as we advanced up the stairs towards the cries. Then the screen went dark, and the voices cried to us again. I hit the side of the tv but nothing just a black emptiness. Danse looked at me, and I shook my head.   
"I'm not going up there," He said in a confident tone. "We need to leave, and I suggest that we do it right now!"  
"Help please help! Help us! We're up here! Heellllppppp!"  
A snap of lightning outside lit up the entire house like daytime, and we stood in the dark parlor waiting for one of us to make the first move.   
"Let's look for ourselves and if it's nothing, then we can leave."   
Danse didn't like that, but he agreed.  
"We look, we see, we leave."  
We slowly walked out of the room and up the stairwell. I creaked under the weight of our gear, but I took point and advanced up it anyway. As I reached the top of the stairs, Danse went to the right, and I went to the left. I walked slowly to the first door and flung it open with my pistol drawn. Clear. Next room. I advanced to the next door, but it appeared to be looked from the inside. I raised my foot up to kick it when it unlatched and opened partially. The creak could have woke the dead as loud as it was and I pushed the door open swiftly.   
As the door came to rest, I saw two people laying on a single couch inside, lit only by candles making love to one another. They were raiders by the look of it, and as I readied my weapon to fire on them the couch started ripping them apart! They started screaming, and the blood was flying everywhere! The seemingly inanimate object grew claws and teeth, devouring the two with its mighty jaws and in an instant, the room was left with old dried blood splattered every which way. I backed up so fast I slammed into the wall behind me, busting through it into a hidden room, and it was an old laboratory.   
All the commotion made Danse sprint over to me, and he pulled me out of the opening in the wall. We looked around a little but found nothing of use inside when we heard a wind at the end of the hall behind us. We turned around, and it was one of the policemen from the memory. He stood there watching us as we looked upon him. He didn't look a day over twenty-five and he was missing his patrol cap.  
"I was hoping someone would eventually find us. This place, you have to get out. It'll get you too if you don't! Run! Run away as fast you can! Run!"   
Suddenly the wall reached out and grabbed the man pulling him back into it. We slammed ourselves back as he reached for us screaming. His started turning into the wallpaper, and his figure slid down the wall towards us reaching and screaming. Danse slugged the figure in the wall, but it grabbed his arm and was trying to pull him into it!  
"Danse!! No!! Let him go you bastard!!!"  
I shot the wall several times as it screamed in pain, blood splattering from the gunshots and the figure released his arm vanishing.   
"Run! Get away! Get out!"  
The walls flexed in and out wildly with the arms of it victims reaching for us and grabbing at our armor. We bolted down the stairs as the light fixtures attempted to reach out as well. The chandelier reached down at us as we ran into the parlor with teeth and claws ripping at me back as I leaped to the floor of the parlor where the tv waited for us to return.  
The screen rolled and crackled as we turned our frightened faces to its program once again.   
BUZZ!-BUZZ!---SNAP!-FIZZ!---  
The tv sizzled to life and showed us its final program. The house was attacking us on all fronts when the floor opened out and began to swallow us into. We were screaming our blood was being spilled. We slammed into each other as the house ripped apart our power armor and this evil thing in front of us. The television that played a simple warning only to those with a belief in what it had to show. It now showed our gruesome death's and we watched with twisted faces as it slowly killed us, our screaming that could not be heard as our bones snapping with our blood-curdling screams of dying and it devoured us into its endless purgatory forever trapping our souls with the ones it already held as trophies.   
We were both violently shaking when I screamed at the rolling screen of the television set.  
"What do you want from us?!"  
That's when we heard the old woman's voice come from behind us.  
"I want you to leave,"   
She spoke in the deepest most creepy, cold, unforgiving, tone that any old woman could give. It was both sinister as it was evil in nature.  
"Yes, ma'am. We are leaving, sorry to have bothered you, and have a good evening watching your program."  
I said as we ran out the now made our way to the open front door back into the storm in which we came. As we left the porch, the house made an unforgettable sound of being consumed by a raging fire. We turned around as we were whisked away by flowing the sea foam. The entire house was ablaze, a complete conflagration and the old woman opened the window in the parlor. We could hear the tv play as she sat down with the fire raging all around her. It was the man's voice from when we had first heard the television play.  
"You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone."  
At the end of the music, it played the house exploded with incredible force knocking us far away into the blankets of sea foam. All we could see was the orange color of the flames as we were tossed into the cold, wet muck. When we finally struggled to our feet and looked over at where that house had been, it was completely gone, and it had been possibly nothing more than a figment of our imaginations.   
But I wouldn't ever believe that.  
What we had witnessed was a vision from the past and a reason we should not sit so close to the television as children. It was a true scare as we would not forget that sight as it was ever burned into our very souls. How we were almost eaten by a possessed house from another dimension, on its way looking for some more souls to feast on, as it endured it endless travels and forever playing an old forgotten program for a lone elderly woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always folks I hoped you enjoyed another 'zany' adventure into that world of, 'not so black and white'. If you liked it send me your kudos and subscribe!   
> Stay tuned for the next episode, as our favorite team heads out on yet another adventure worthy enough to become another---A Tale From The Prydwen!


	5. What a job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MacCready, Nora and Paladin Danse go for an adventure in the wasteland after he steals a cool piece of tech that he can't figure out, with a note attached to it and begins suffering delusions of being the Silver Shroud turned gangster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for Tess1978 so I hope everyone enjoys it. :)

It was a hot sultry afternoon, the three friends set inside of their house in Sanctuary playing a card game to pass the time. Nora wiped the sweat from her brow, trying not to let MacCready steal a peek at her cards as Danse upped the antie again.

 _"Damn it Danse! I fold!"_ She tossed the cards on the table, and the two men locked eyes behind their cards.

Danse narrowed his eyes at MacCready as he tightened his grip on the last of his caps under the table. MacCready slyly let his eyes wander around the room when he took in a deep breath and laid his cards down face up.

 _"Full house jack high! Come to papa, you lovely caps, you!"_ He said starting to wrap his slimy claws around the pile of caps that laid in the center of the table. Danse grabbed his arm as he attempted to start his grab and run game.

 _"Hold it right there pal,"_ Danse slapped his cards down to reveal a royal flush ace high! MacCready stopped right there, ripped his arm free of Danse and he started laughing at his haste in collected what head not been his quite yet. Nora started chuckling at the scuffle on the table as they broke free of each other and MacCready glared at her.

He crossed his arms and sat back in his chair as Danse scooped up the caps with a satisfied grin written all over his face.

 _"Fine be that way--"_ MacCready started to say when their game was distracted by the sound of an explosion near the Red Rocket. They all bolted from the table outside and looked up in the sky to see a large black column building as the orange explosive burst lifted high above it.

 _"Great---now what!"_ Nora huffed as she get into her power armor and the trio dashed over to the Red Rocket to see what caused all the commotion. As the approached from the bridge, they saw bits and pieces of what looked like a pack Brahmin scattered across the parched earth. A crazy looking old man was crawling around on all fours acting as if he were looking for something. MacCready started looking around in the busted crates when he spotted a most unusual item, a black stick that looked like some sort of camera with a tiny little tv next to, and a note wrapped over the top of them by a small bit of twine.

As Nora attempted to make contact with the man on the ground, he stood up suddenly, pointing over at the stuff MacCready was now picking up and he darted in that direction. He ran into him, and they started fighting over the items, MacCready wrestled the man to the ground, and he stopped, backed away as the man started shouting at him laying on his back.

 _"That was mine! My precious, now give it back!"_ He had a small stick of dynamite on his one hand and a flip lighter in the other.

 _"Finders keepers you crazy old coot!"_ MacCready hollered, and he ran away back towards Sanctuary. The man stood up slowly, lit the dynamite and attempted to give chase when he was rudely clothes-lined by the strong arm of Paladin Danse. The man hit the ground, and the small stick of explosive fell underneath him. As he struggled to get at it, the stick blew up, and the man was no more.

The settlers from Red Rocket slowly came over to the scene, and there was nothing more to be done there. Nora and Danse walked back to Sanctuary to look for MacCready with curiosity as to what the hell he took from the man that made him kill himself.

As they walked back over to the house, MacCready was sitting on the ground next to the workbench holding the stick, looking into the end of it and slapping the tv on its side.

 _"Smooth move ex-lax. You killed that guy--over what---another little gadget?!"_ Nora scorned him as she exited her armor on the stand and Danse was about to slap him when they both looked at what he had there. MacCready smiled like a child on Christmas morning and handed Nora a tattered piece of paper.

 _"Forget that guy, he was nuts anyway, but check this shit out!"_ He said holding the tv next to his head and shaking it like a martini.

Danse put his hand over his face and hissed with discontent. Nora took the paper and looked at what he was doing with a look of perplexed confusion as she unfolded the note and read it out loud.

_"Rockets and space, the bank is the place, what a sight to see and all that booty for the taking, if you have this. Razor will never see this coming; I hope it was worth all the trouble we went through to get it here. The heist is to take place at the bank around the corner from Back Street Apparel at midnight tonight, be there or be square."_

She slowly looked over at MacCready and Danse looked down at the contraption he was playing with. He stopped and looked up at Nora and then Danse with a silly look on his face as he spit out little pieces of plastic.

_"What?!"_

Nora started to crumple the note and tossed it at him, it bounced off his head and rolled over to Danse's foot where he stomped it into the ground.

 _"Come on guys; it 'll be fun, and I can be the Silver Shroud! Oh, I have always wanted to be the Silver Shroud and now that you're done with that costume can I borrow it? Please, please oh, pretty please?"_ He was fluttering his eye lids and smiling like a creep when she crossed her arms and started tapping her foot.

 _"Remember the last time you said there was a sure thing?"_ She knelled down to him and started twirling the cables for the camera with her fingers. His face sank, and he looked away from her gaze.

 _"Yep. We all got shot, and there was no loot. But look, that guy was crazy about this, come on please! I'll make it up to you both if it backfires again, okay?"_ He said shrugging and slowly standing up. Danse didn't look too convinced as they both looked over at him. He started to realize that they were now ganging up on him and changed his demeanor.

 _"Oh no don't look at me, this wasn't my idea."_ They all smiled as Nora stood up. They all put their hand together, Nora first, MacCready and lastly Danse. One hand over the other as they all started to laugh like a group of lunatics.

 _"Okay fine, we're in."_ He said after he caught his breath and they made a little huddle around the parts on the ground. _"Nora can you get this thing working again, I'm not sure what it even is, but I think it's some sort of telescopic camera."_ She nodded her head and smiled, _"Sure I can you don't even need to ask."_ He turned to Danse, "We are going to need some extra fire power for this you think I can borrow that extra laser rifle?" Danse nodded to him and then grabbed him by the collar, "Don't break it again or I'll take the repair costs out of your share, got it?" MacCready smiled, swallowed a gulp of air and nodded to him as he slowly released his collar.

"Break!" They all said in unison as they strode off to get ready for a true reckless and spontaneous adventure. About thirty minutes later they all met up at the last house on the left as they exited Sanctuary. Nora tossed the Silver Shroud costume at MacCready as he clumsily swatted at it. She set down a messenger bag with the equipment in it, a power drill, various tools and the camera with it's cute little tv. The turned and waited as Paladin Danse started to make his way over holding a newly modified minigun in his fists. MacCready hastily shoved himself inside the costume and started grinning widely as Danse approached. They both looked at him and started laughing as it had appeared he decided to dress up a little too, for this 'special occasion.'

He had a bandana wrapped around his forehead and a cigar in his teeth, and he lifted the minigun onto his shoulder strutting like Rambo. They both looked at him and started laughing.

 _"You laughing at me,"_ Danse said pointing to himself. They both nodded and started falling over each other for a moment until they could regain their composure.

 _"Well shit, you've got the Silver Shroud there and seeing as it's Halloween and all I thought you of all people would dress up too Nora."_ She looked a little surprised and exited her power armor in the carport nearby, returning to them dressed in all black. A black trench coat, a black spandex jumpsuit, and black jackboots, topping it off by donning a pair of black ray-bans. He twin silver pistols stowed under her arms riding in her vice holster.

The both whistled like wolves as she slid the glasses over her eyes and smiled. She was none other than Trinity from the Matrix.

 _"Sorry to not disappoint you gentlemen but it looks like you've been outclassed yet again."_ She grabbed the bag of equipment and slung it over her shoulder as they all strode off in the direction of the bank. _"Oh you, disappoint, never,"_ they said as they both high fived behind her back as they walked across the crumbling asphalt laughing at each other.

The wind started to blow the dried out leaves of ash off their feet as they slowly reached the front of the bank. They were on high alert after hearing what they thought were screams followed by snapping flesh and silence down one of the alleyways next to the old bank building. They stood in front of it for a bit before MacCready had to state the oblivious.

 _"Well, this looks like the place!"_ He said it with such enthusiasm that neither Danse or Nora could help themselves.

 _"No, you don't say, what do you say, Nora?"_ She looked over at Danse with a devilish smile.

 _"Looks like it'll work for me."_ They both started the chuckle in a failed attempt to keep from laughing. MacCready started to act a little pissy as their insult had turned to injury of his pride unintentionally.

 _"Ha-ha-ha guys very funny. Laugh it up cause after we break this bank open we'll all be able to retire."_ He started for the front doors first, in an exaggerated way holding a submachine gun in his hands and a cigar in his mouth, and they followed him trying not to poke at him any further.

They got inside and found disappointment; everything was boring and still. _"Huh,"_ MacCready said as he made his way over to the huge vault door behind the counter. There was an old terminal there, but it had been put out of commission by someone or something. The sparks showered the floor as it sputtered and clicked on the wall.

 _"Well let's get some eyes on the loot, if there is any and get crackin at that door."_ Nora set the bag down near the door pulling out the drill and starting to drill into the vault. Danse set the minigun down and started the help MacCready setup the camera system that Nora had fixed.

He turned it on and saw the lights on the end of it surrounding the camera. He smiled as Danse made the fuzzy picture come into focus on the small screen and he started to stick the camera in his mouth when Danse pulled it back.

 _"What is wrong with you?! Don't put that in your mouth you have no idea where that thing's been!"_ He scolded him as MacCready got a god awful look on his face and laid the camera down. He started wiping his tongue on his hands and wiping his hands on his jacket as Danse rolled his eyes at him.

Suddenly there was a loud pop and Nora thrust herself against the wall as the drill broke through to the other side. She pulled it back, handed it to MacCready and Danse handed her the camera.

 _"Looks like we're in and now for a look-see at our loot."_ She pulled on the end of the stick and fully extended the camera, slowly sliding in the hole as they all watched the progress of its journey on the tiny black and white screen on the floor. They were on pins and needles as it cleared the thick wall and was now able to be twisted around to view many different angles. Then they saw it---!

GOLD BARS! Over two dozen of them sitting on the shelves on the back wall of the vault!

 _"Woo Hoo Pay-dirt gentlemen!"_ She shouted out as they gasped and started high-fiving each other.

 _"Let's bust this thing out of our way!"_ MacCready said as she pulled the telescopic camera out of the hole and slid it back down to a stick again.

They all took part has Nora pulled out a large rotary saw from the bag and put the first blade on it. Danse heaved the thing up and buried it into the door as the sparks shot across the floor MacCready thought he heard a slight scratching sound, but he couldn't identify where it had been coming from. He figured it was from the saw work and generally ignored it, for the time being. After that blade was dull it was his turn to run the saw with the new blade, he started the cut and continued it to the floor.

There was that scratching again as he finished the cut and when he pulled the saw back, and it slowly stopped it had gone. His quizzical look at the vault door caught the attention of both Danse and Nora as they were about to get what they had come for.

 _"What is it MacCready?"_ Danse asked as MacCready put his ear up to the door.

 _"I--I don't rightly know,"_ He whispered as he listened for the sound again. _"I thought I heard something inside the vault."_

Nora got a scoffed look on her face and blew him off. _"We all looked inside with the camera; there 's nothing in there but loot."_ That's where they were all wrong.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

MacCready ripped his ear off that door so hard you could have seen the sweat ripple the steel as he slid himself over the counter top and now peer back at it from the opposite side. Danse had grabbed his minigun and Nora armed herself, cocking back the hammers of her pistols.

 _"What the---!"_ Danse started as the pounding started again.

BANG!

The metal was moving from the cuts that were made in the door and the steel groaned as it slid slightly. BANG! Now both Danse and Nora had joined MacCready on the opposite side of the counter as whatever it was in there was coming out to greet them.

_BANG! BANG! BANG! CLANG....Rattle Rattle Rattle......._

The mighty door was flung to the floor and it rotated on its edges as it met the ground. They peered over the countertop after the steel on steel wrangling stopped to catch a fleeting glimpse of their enemy.

 _"Where is it?"_ Nora whispered as Danse started to slowly stand up, the vault was pitch black and appeared as empty as they had thought it was when they scoped it with the camera.

Then there were these red eyes and that fateful hiss of a Behemoth Radscorpion!

He rushed him as the minigun spun up Nora and MacCready opened fire on the beast as it swung it's stinger around wildly at them, confused as to which one to nail first. Danse opened up on it as it started to aim for him and it's nasty smelling vinegar blood splattered the walls and floor as they all emptied everything they had into it screaming at the top of their lungs.

The thing laid there died as they continued screaming, empty clicks filling the room as they all came to the realization that it was dead, and they all stood there like idiots screaming like that. They set down everything and entered the vault only to discover that the images the camera had sent to them earlier were posters, nothing more than printed pictures on cardboard.

MacCready slapped himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming as Danse grabbed the posters and ripped them in half, Nora watched in a huff as all this hard work was for not. Then she caught the look in Danse's eyes when MacCready held up the laser rifle that he had borrowed, and it was bent at a forty-five degrees angle in the center where the Radscorpion had hit it with its huge stinger. Danse tossed the posters down and started to rush MacCready.

 _"Damn it MacCready! I told you what would happen if you broke that again and saw as there was no share I'll just take it out of your hide!"_ MacCready dropped it where he stood and launched himself back over the counter in a hastily formed plan of escape from the pissed Paladin. Nora slammed herself against the wall as Danse shot past her like a bullet on target and the target was the backside of MacCready!

 _"No Danse, please it was an accident, you know what that is right, an accident--!"_ He put his hands up and tried pleading with Danse as he chased after him. MacCready sqealed around the room and they tripped and fell, was squirming all over the place when they started rolling around on the ground of the bank lobby when Danse got the upper hand, and put MacCready over a kneeling bent knee. He started spanking the crap out of him, and he whimpered and cried like a little boy that got caught smoking his dad's cigars behind his back.

Nora leaned against the wall and laughed. Boys will be boys right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos if you like and have a great day!


End file.
